Japanese Morphophonemics ― Markedness and Word Structure

The sound pattern of Japanese, with its characteristic pitch accent system and richsegmental alternations, has played an important role in modern phonology, from structuralistphonemics to current constraint-based theories. In Japanese Morphophonemics Junko Ito and ArminMester provide the first book-length treatment of central issues in Japanese phonology from theperspective of Optimality Theory.In Optimality Theory (OT), a generative grammar (including itsphonological component) is built directly on the often conflicting demands of different grammaticalprinciples and incorporates a specific kind of optimization as the means of resolving theseconflicts. OT offers a new perspective from which to view many of the processes, alternations, andgeneralizations that are the traditional subject matter of phonology. Using the phonology ofcompounds as an analytical thread, Ito and Mester revisit central aspects of the sound pattern ofJapanese and submit them to the rigor of OT. In pursuing both well-known and less-explored issues inthis area, they show that an optimality-theoretic approach not only provides new solutions to oldpuzzles but also suggests interesting new questions for both descriptive work and theoreticalresearch.